Whether he is calling on customers or playing pond hockey with his buddies, Matthew Pearsall keeps his eye on the goal.
By Laura Thill
Matthew Pearsall
For Matthew Pearsall, the success of his physician customers depends on his ability to focus on the future. When he – or any sales rep for that matter – stands before the customer, the McKesson Medical-Surgical primary care account manager asks himself, “How can I help this practice meet its current needs, as well as offer the right tools to increase its competitive advantage in the market?” Sales reps must keep the physician practice focused on “the vision of healthcare,” he adds. “This can be accomplished by offering the tools provided by your employer to keep your customers efficient and competitive.”
Indeed, when he joined McKesson in 2009, the healthcare landscape was struggling in the face of a plummeting economy, he recalls. “The physician market was stagnant and the healthcare landscape was experiencing a forced changed due to financial pressures,” he says. But, it didn’t take him long to realize he was in good hands at McKesson. “I felt very fortunate to be with the company, as they provided their field reps with products [designed to] help physicians survive those changes. This definitely helped strengthen my relationships with my new customers.”
Coming together
It took a few years for Pearsall to recognize his future lay in medical products sales. Following high school graduation, he earned an associate’s degree in culinary arts at School Craft College, a top national culinary arts program, which happened to be located near his hometown in Michigan. Meanwhile, his next-door neighbor, a sheriff, encouraged him to join the local fire department, where he was hired and trained as a lieutenant fire fighter and emergency medical technician. (Most fire departments require their staff to fill both roles, he explains.) His schedule – typically eleven 24-hour shifts per month – enabled him to simultaneously complete his bachelor’s degree. “I worked at the fire department for over six years, and while I enjoyed it very much, I knew I didn’t want to be a fireman forever,” he says.
“Eighty percent of my job with the fire department was medical-based,” Pearsall points out, noting he and his EMT partners frequently brought people to the hospital emergency rooms, where he became better acquainted with various medical products. His college business classes, coupled with the people skills he was developing as a firefighter/EMT, piqued his interest in medical products sales. With a couple of business internships behind him, he began to explore potential sales positions and soon received an invitation to interview at McKesson Medical-Surgical Primary Care.
That was six years ago, he continues, noting that he definitely made the right decision in joining the company. Especially given the economic climate, he felt “lucky to have the support of the company’s med-surg team,” he recalls. “Leadership was consistently a few steps ahead of the game, which helped me stay focused on what my physician customers needed the most.” Indeed, for Pearsall, his strong customer relationships are central to his work as a territory rep. “I believe customer relationships really keep the excitement level high for sales reps,” he explains. “Some long-term customers become friends, and what better feeling is there than helping a friend become successful? Offering new ideas for growth to a practice translates into a feeling of success by everyone involved.”
Resilient and focused
Having grown up on a lake, it made sense for Pearsall to take up pond hockey – a version of rink hockey that is played on a lake. Players use regulation pond hockey goals, which are six feet wide and six inches tall, with a one-foot opening on each end. “I have been playing on a recreation league with friends from high school for the past eight years,” he says. “From the maintenance and creation of the rink on the lake, to getting outside in the winter, my hockey friends and I love playing outdoors.” There is always a good turnout of players, he notes. “It’s a great atmosphere that my hockey friends, their wives and their kids all enjoy.”
That said, playing pond hockey – just like professional rink hockey – does not come without its share of risks. “Two years ago I broke my ankle and needed plates, and wires to recover,” says Pearsall. (Six months later, he ironically re-broke that same ankle waterskiing.) “Then, two days before a sales meeting I had my tooth knocked out from a puck while playing in a charity firefighter-vs.-police tournament.” Still, playing hockey has “helped me stay resilient,” he points out. “Emotions change a lot during a game, as well as at work [as a sales rep]. But having a plan – and focusing on it – keeps me tenacious.”
Similarly, he attributes his ability to remain calm and relaxed on his sales calls to his experience as a firefighter/EMT. “I believe I am a very calm individual, and I know that comes from being exposed to many highly emotional situations [while I was with the fire department].” Both as a firefighter and a sales rep, “you must stay focused on your goal and anticipate change at all times. [It’s important to be] self-aware and know how to adapt to many types of people, in all situations.”
Pond hockey
Pond hockey is a form of ice hockey similar to traditional ice hockey, but simpler and designed to be played on part of a natural frozen body of water. The rink is 50-80 percent of the size of a standard NHL-specification rink, and has no boards or glass surrounding it, adding to the convenience of setting up and removing the rink. Usually, only a barrier of snow keeps the puck in play. In addition, because there are no protective barriers behind the goal to contain high, errant shots, the top of the goal is far lower than in standard hockey – in fact, it is only slightly taller than the width of a puck, and the game more often that not does not have a formal goalie. Because of these differences, pond hockey places more emphasis on skating and puck-handling ability, and less on shooting and checking. Non-competitive pond hockey is often played with no proper goals (shoes and customized pond hockey nets are often used instead), rinks of almost any size and no boards or even snow barriers.
Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pond_hockey